Your views in 200 words or less

January 13, 2011 1:54 pm

What? The state of Illinois has committed a mortal sin. It has actually raised taxes to help balance the budget (TNT, 1-13).

Instead of crucifying public employees and gutting education, they asked all of their citizens to help preserve the civic fabric that intelligent and caring individuals have worked for so many generations to build.

Normally legislators should follow the will of the people – so far as it can be ascertained. But I wonder if sometimes our legislator should look beyond the “will” of the people and ask if destroying state programs, creating inferior public schools, making it harder for students to attend higher education and ignoring critical infrastructure are in fact counter to the best interests of the people of the state.

It just might make sense for a two-thirds majority of our legislators to decide that it is time to raise taxes.

To the citizens of this state who consistently vote no new taxes and vote to cripple the ability of the Legislature to generate revenue, I ask: “Where’s your compassion?” How badly would it have crippled their checkbook to pay two cents more for a cola or bottle of water?

Taxes are the price we pay for civilization: for police, firefighters, teachers, sewage treatment, roads, garbage pickup, medical systems and education of our citizens, to name a few.

We’ve worked for hundreds of years to build our country; it wold be a shame to see it shrivel and die due to short-sighted financial self-interest.

Feeds

Yep, Let’s get the state legislature to ask the citizens to vote for a tax based on your adjusted gross income, not taxable income after deductions (Schedule A0 and exemption amounts. That’s 5% of AGI. So, make $50,000 with kids and a house, real estate taxes, etc or $2,500.

Daniel, I don’t know whether you work for government or in the private sector. I’ve worked for both.
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I’ve researched what the average government worker is paid and I can tell you if you cut their salaries in half, they would still be making more than the average worker in the private sector.
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It is time to downsize government personnel!!!!

The lame duck session of the Illinois state house just crapped all over the citizens of that state. After the Nov rejection nationwide of the socialist/ neo marxists agenda on both state and federal level, the state congress decided to punish the voters for their insolence with a 60% increase in the state income tax. How dare the simplistic voters say no to the utopian ideals spouted and touted by the leftist regime, now they will pay, oops I mean pay more, so they can continue to spend money like drunken sailors.
As soon as the swearing in of the new congress they will vote down the vindictive increase and hopefully get their house in order

mattersnot, one of my jobs when working for the state was to compare public and private salaries and other costs of doing business. Washington’s laws mandate that functions must be privatized if it cost the state more to do the work than what it would cost to contract with private businesses. We had to study this aspect frequently. Our agency could not privatize because it was paid for with 80% federal money with the stipulation a state must rprovide the services, and has been that way since 1917, but we still had to do the studies.

We kept close tabs on what the equivalent pay was. State wokers made about 70% of comparable wages. Total compensation, including amortized retirement and state contributions to insurance was about 80%-90% of private pay. Studies have been done on almost all workers in state government and they find very similar results. I would love for you to share the results of your studies (I am sure they are scientific) with the state’s personnel system. The negotiations of wages would take a very different turn if your studies were to be published, since the state tries to keep total compensation fairly competetive, but less than private, usually in the 90% range.

Frankly, I think you are blowing hot air at a subject you know nothing about.

“they asked all of their citizens to help preserve the civic fabric that intelligent and caring individuals have worked for so many generations to build.”

No they didn’t. If they asked “all” of their citizens, they would have cut public assistance payments 3-5%. They actually asked only about half of their citizens to get by on less so that the other half did not have to.

“Taxes are the price we pay for civilization: for police, firefighters, teachers, sewage treatment, roads, garbage pickup, medical systems and education of our citizens, to name a few.”

Right. Except we’re giving so much of our tax money to people who won’t take care of themselves that there isn’t enough left for those things above. I, for one, think we should fully fund every single item in your list, then direct whatever is left over toward welfare programs.

Xring, How many different ways do the Taxpayers (ya know, folks who actually pay taxes) have to say No, to More Taxes, No, to Any New Taxes, Yes to Cut Spendiing ?

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